web series Archives - Virginia Madsen

Ruth and Erica is another show from the YouTube Channel, WIGS. Like “Jan” before it, it’s another short series. In total we get 13 episodes, averaging around 8 minutes each.

Yeah, it’s another one you’d be forgiven for not hearing much about this one. It’s surprisingly hard to find much information about – BUT – It’s free to watch and easy to find, especially if you get to the bottom of this page and click on the link…

The show itself deals with caring for the elderly, specifically one’s parents.

The titular characters, Ruth and Erica are Mother and Daughter respectively. Maura Tierney takes the part of Ruth and Lois Smith plays Erica. They are joined by Phillip Baker Hall as the only other real series regular who plays the husband / father of the family.

(Image Courtesy of: Carelinx.com)

The series follows the trials and tribulations of Ruth as her life gets turned upside down as she comes to terms with her parents getting older. We see her try to take control of the situation even though nobody really wants her to, which includes herself.

It’s worth a watch in my humble opinion. I’d call it a dark drama comedy. Unlike Jan which was more or less a proper TV episode cut up into small chunks, each episode of Ruth and Erica moves the plot on a month and acts as a small one scene snapshot of the family life. No real plot to follow, it’s just that – a series of snapshots in time. There are no real gaps to fill in so you never really feel as though you’ve missed anything.

Virginia Madsen appears in only one episode, the 9th Episode, September, which also stars Michael C Hall (of Dexter fame). It’s never said on screen but according to the iMDB listing for the show, she plays Mel, and – It’s not much of an exaggeration to call it a short appearance. She’s on screen for a whole 5 (literal) seconds. She’s sat with with Jan, so it’s safe to assume it was the same “Mel” that appears in Jan (and later on, Susanna) as a way of connecting the shows into one universe.

Still, not exactly a chance for Miss Madsen to flex her acting muscles.

All involved with the show do an excellent job here, the performances although short and sweet are totally believable and relatable. Obviously it’s quite a sad show to watch sometimes, particularly watching the parents come to terms with their own mortality and capabilities. And obviously we watch, for the most part, through the eyes of a child coming to terms with the fragility of her parents.

And yet, it somehow also manages to be quite heart warming at times as well. And, honestly I could watch the great and late Phillip Baker Hall do this kind of thing all day long.

If you have a spare hour or so, give it a watch – There are far worse ways to spend your time. I actually found myself thinking about this little show for days afterwards.

Availability:

All episodes freely available on YouTube:

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Jan is a show from the YouTube Original Channel Initiative on the WIGS channel. The channel is dedicated to highlighting Web series, short films and documentaries centering around the lives of women. The channel only seems to have lasted a couple of years but the work remains there to be viewed today, or at least at the time of writing.

Most, if not all of the shows on the WIGS channel share the same universe, characters from one show appear in others, even if just briefly. Each of the shows last as long as they need to, and each episode of the shows averages around 8 minutes.

Jan was the first of these shows to premiere.

The channel seems to have attracted a wealth of talent to work on these shows, Jan is no exception. The titular character, Jan, is played by Caitlin Gerard. Playing support are Laura Spencer, Stephen Moyer, Jaime Murray, Julia Stiles, Iddo Goldberg and of course Virginia Madsen to name but a few.

We first meet Jan as a new employee of Mel, the character portrayed by Virginia Madsen. Mel is a photographer whose latest project is to take pictures of women in the moments after sex, to “capture ‘The Moment’” for her new project book called (subtly) Afterglow.

Jan is the recent winner of a competition to be her assistant. On the first shoot her glasses get broken which leads to her being taken under the wing of the male part of the project, Gery (Stephen Moyer) who is responsible for bringing the models (Jamie Murray) ‘moment’ to reality.

As the series goes on we see the two get closer together as a series of circumstances unfold, mostly through a series of blunders by Jan. These blunders lead to some recognition of her talent through a few happy accidents.

This gets under the skin of Mel, she’s not happy that Jan seems to have come out of nowhere and making no effort to steal her thunder. Virginia Madsen is in full power mode in this role, there is a particularly great scene in the fifth episode between Mel and Jan which leaves the viewer, and Jan, under no illusion of who is in control here. Kind of. The two come to some kind of understanding as the show goes on.

It’s a weird kind of relationship between the two, they don’t seem to trust each other but work as a team nonetheless. I guess I’d call it a professional rivalry. Both are talented, Jan is the newer and younger version of Mel and although she might not like it she tries to help in her own way. Tough love.

Although the episodes are short they tend to run on from each other, which is a bit weird as it could have just been like a normal TV episode. Of the 15 episodes Miss Madsen is present for 9 of them, so well worth adding this one to the watch list.

In all fairness it’d be worth a watch without her, it’s not a bad show or a bad way to kill an hour or so.

Availability:

All ready and waiting for you to watch on the WIGS YouTube Channel.